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Holiday stress: It’s only temporary

23. December 2009

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Holiday stress: It’s only temporary

If you have to deal with mall drivers one more time, if you’ve got a houseful of I’m-bored-already kids, if you hold your breath and cross your fingers every time you fork over your credit card, if — OK, enough with the “ifs.” I’m getting sweaty, my heart is racing, my chest is tight and [...]

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It’s winter break … AHHHHHH!

19. December 2009

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It’s winter break … AHHHHHH!

If you’re like me and have kids in school, it’s probably just dawning on you that THEY’RE OFF FOR TWO WEEKS!!!
Sorry.
Yes, with the holidays comes winter break and a good two weeks of the kids underfoot and constantly asking, “What are we doing today?” And a good two weeks of you saying, “Uh … .” [...]

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Bad? Good!

16. December 2009

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Bad? Good!

Sometimes, to keep a challenge from becoming an ordeal you have to try and balance the bad with a good. Take my ordeal – rather, “challenge” today on a 15-mile hike in the Joyce Kilmer-Slickrock Wilderness. It was a day of challenges that teetered on being an ordeal. I found myself continually trying to strike [...]

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A new you in 2010? Yes, but why

9. December 2009

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A new you in 2010? Yes, but why

You know you want to be healthier in 2010. But do you know why you want to be healthier?
It’s human nature that as one year draws to a close we wonder how we might make more out of the year ahead. In our neck of the self-improvement universe here at GetGoingNC.com, that translates to how [...]

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Knowing when to fold ‘em

30. November 2009

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Knowing when to fold ‘em

The key to continuing to enjoy an activity? Don’t intentionally put yourself in a position to dislike the activity.
I left Cary early this morning for a week of backpacking in the Smokies. In the throes of trying to wrap up a book on backcountry exploring in North Carolina, the trip was both pleasure and work [...]

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A wily sales pitch

23. November 2009

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A wily sales pitch

It was billed as a mountain bike race. It was actually a shrewd bit of marketing.
Officially, Saturday’s 6 BC was billed as the second in a series of four, 6-hour endurance mountain bike races sponsored by the Triangle Off-Road Cyclists. And while there was indeed a race (these results prove it), it was also a [...]

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Sweet. Innocent. Disturbed.

20. November 2009

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Sweet. Innocent. Disturbed.

One of the many things I like about taking a long ride, run or hike is that it purges my mind of life’s daily distractions — bills, deadlines, squirrels. The resulting void clears vital space for creative thinking, for random thoughts, ideas and whatnot to bubble up from the subconscious and get some air time. [...]

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Look! Up in the sky!

14. November 2009

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Look! Up in the sky!

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s … what the heck is it?
Oh, yeah, I remember now: the Sun.
After an extended vacation, during which we were sat by our dour Aunt Ida (what was with all those slobbery kisses?). After nearly a week, Ida has finally packed her bags and left, ol’ Sol has returned [...]

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Paradise: If you have to ask …

1. November 2009

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Paradise: If you have to ask …

I needed a water bottle. I wound up contemplating the price of paradise.
Packing for a week of backpacking last night, I could only put my hands on one Nalgene bottle. My MSR water filter screws into Nalgene water bottles, making an otherwise annoying task – pumping water from a stream – slightly less annoying. [...]

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Sanity and sweat

19. October 2009

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Sanity and sweat

When you hear someone say that working out keeps them sane, they could mean one of two things. They could mean that their daily workout is what they need to keep their juices flowing, that their workout jump-starts their system just enough to make it possible for them to sit at a desk and stare [...]

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